Elizabeth Hagan

Elizabeth Hagan is senior pastor of Palisades Community Church in Washington and executive director of Our Courageous Kids, a foundation dedicated to giving grants for education to kids growing up in orphanages. You can follow her words over at http://elizabethhagan.com

By Elizabeth Evans Hagan Advent has always been a mystery to me. Maybe it is because I never celebrated it in the churches of my childhood, where we just rushed into singing every verse of “Joy to the World” the…

American Christianity deeply troubles me. It’s not because some sociologists are saying that the influence and prominence of religion in American public life is declining. It’s not because more and more clergy leaders are leaving the ministry for less stressful…

Growing up in a churchy family, with a father as a Baptist pastor, I became very familiar with the way many Baptist churches treat their pastors. Communication can be at a minuminum. Postive or negative feedback is not shared until…

By Elizabeth Evans Hagan Last year about this time, I posted a question to several pastoral colleagues on Twitter: “It’s Pastor Appreciation Month, do you feel appreciated?” I was curious about its observance. Many of my colleagues responded back quickly,…

I was having a conversation recently with our pastoral intern and he told me with some frustration on his face,“Sometimes I feel like I’m trying to push a product that no one wants.” (He was referring to the Church). During…

Is our faith something we are or something we practice? Last week, one of the first questions I was asked at the Chaplaincy Institute for the Arts and Interfaith Ministries while attending a training in the art of spiritual direction was: “What…

“I love you.” It takes a relationship to a deeper level like no other three words can. Where were we when we first said the “L word?” Often couples remember this moment in their dating time together more than any…

A congregation that once had a membership of 7,000 now has only 100. However, on any given week, there are 2,000 people on the campus and five worship services are held. Sundays at Gaston Christian Center in Dallas, TX, teems with the colors and languages of Africa, the Far East, Central America and the Middle East.

We created Storytelling Projects because we believe stories, rooted in the Jesus Story, have the power not only to inform but to transform people and communities. They can be sources of spiritual insight, imagination, creativity and hope for all who seek justice and mercy.